First HTPC build – please comment

[RehabMan]

I’ve been lurking around this site for sometime and have finally decided to build an HTPC.  What a great site.  Prior to now, I’ve spend the better part of a decade waiting for DirecTV to offer a tuner card.  Last fall, I gave that up and switched to cable because they dropped the project and the promise of Ceton’s multi-tuner card was just too much to resist.

That said, this will be my first PC build ever.  I’ve done some upgrades of my machines and my family’s machines in the past (you know, memory, hard disk, video card, etc), but never have I built a system from scratch.  I have a software background (former Microsoft software engineer).

My plan is to place the HTPC running 7MC in the living room along with your traditional A/V components.  For that reason it has to look like it belongs.  Primary storage for Music, DVD Rips, etc. will be on a WHS (already purchased — an HP MediaSmart EX495) running in the office connected to the living room (and other PCs) through GB Ethernet.  Yes… I will be having some fun in the crawl space routing some cat6 from the office to the living room.

TV tuning will be done on the HTPC itself (I considered placing the tuner in the office in a normal desktop and going the “extender” route, but the only decent extender is the Xbox 360 and even it is laggy and too loud).  I am considering placing TV recordings completely on the WHS and sticking to an SSD at the HTPC, but could consider adding a “staging” hard disk on the HTPC itself and then archiving to the WHS with the WHS MC connector. 

Here are the component ideas so far:
  – case: VidaBox vCase3 (already ordered and on its way)
  – tv tuner: Ceton InfiniTV 4 (pre-ordered… who knows when that comes)
  – motherboard: ASUS P75H55D (socket 1156)
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131625
  – cpu: Intel Core i5-750 (1156, 95W)
  – psu: haven’t decided (need to tally wattage)
  – video adapter: Saphire/ATI Radeon HD 5450 (passive cooling)
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102882
  – sound: ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 Slim
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132012&Tpk=xonar
  – system disk: 60GB SSD
    such as: OCZ Agility Series OCZSSD2-1AGT60G 2.5″ 60GB
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227461
  – IR: haven’t researched CIR hardware… any suggestions
    (bummer that the VidaBox doesn’t come with one built-in)

Alternatively, I’ve thought about going LGA 775 w/ E8500 C2D CPU (65W dual-core)… In that it is lower wattage than the 95w for the i5-750.  Thoughts anyone?

Also, do you think recording TV directly to the WHS is doable?  I’m worried a bit about real throughput over the GB Ethernet with 4 HD recordings going at one time…  If that is a concern I’d add a WD AV drive (such as http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136560&cm_re=western_digital_av-_-22-136-560-_-Product), staging the recordings locally before sending them across the network.

Also, I wonder about the possibility of picking a motherboard/CPU with on-board audio/video (still sticking with Intel)?  Audio will always go out digital S/PDIF to an amplifier so no need to do audio decoding locally.  If audio was over HDMI I’d have to upgrade my AVR, which I’d like to avoid (for now).  I’m a little worried about trying to do HD decode with integrated hardware — but maybe things in Intel IGP land have advanced enough to make that possible?  If that was possible, it would save quite a bit of money and probably contribute less to heat inside the case…

Any feedback would be appreciated.  Looking forward to this build…

// Dean

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